The Balloon Tree
by Queen Nightingale
Summary: And suddenly the other balloons have been chopped off, and they're going around her body, squeezing and twisting, and to her utmost DISBELIEF she feels herself rising up towards him, covered in thousands of brilliant multicoloured balloons. JPLE One-Shot


**The Balloon Tree.**

Author: Queen Nightingale

Rating: M

**Comment(s):** Freeverse. One-shot. A poem-sort-of-thing inspired by JPLE, the author and the pairing.  
>I don't know if you'll like it or not. It's experimental.<br>I'm feeling particularly jazzed up, so I'll even dare to say that I don't mind if you hate it.

* * *

><p>theirs, was a white tumbleweed<p>

sort of Romance

with the capital letter meant to

(inspire.)

INSPIRE.

* * *

><p>She was not particularly bold. (She liked to hide it and keep it for someone special.)<p>

So when she found the

balloon tree

Outside Mundungus' apartment building

She stopped.

Stared.

Gaped.

And then promptly patronus-ed him.

* * *

><p>HE, on the<p>

other brilliant side of

logicians,

was phantasmagorical. Death-defying, gravity-inducing, heart-plummeting.

One of the brilliant boys that the school girls

LUSTED over, dreamed of ripping

off his self-assurances, making him bleed

love for

just them.

* * *

><p>which was why when he apparated beside her<p>

gaping mouth

he didn't frown

or scowl

or wonder why a brilliantly large

saturated tree of balloons

had suddenly appeared

outside their magical

apartment Complex.

* * *

><p>"I know what we'll do!"<p>

* * *

><p>He exclaimed the words like a child, and in his mind he could just imagine the frown that he knew was starting to slowly appear on her face, mocking and bored.<p>

* * *

><p>"What, James."<p>

* * *

><p>"Let's tie them to our wrists!"<p>

* * *

><p>She scowls and crosses her arms, a blush like cherries rising<p>

up

up and

away

through her facial features.

* * *

><p>"No."<p>

* * *

><p>he<p>

R O L L S

his eyes. Glowers at her, really.

"Why the _fuck_ not?"

* * *

><p>"Because it's irrational and foolhardy."<p>

* * *

><p>"I'm irrational and foolhardy. That's why you married me."<p>

* * *

><p>"Well maybe I'm a bit sick of it, have you thought of that."<p>

* * *

><p>He's a bit stunned by her Bravado and Bluster, but shakes<p>

it off

like a bit of

gold dust

from an Angel's

wing.

"Well fuck you, I'm doing it."

* * *

><p>(She sticks daggers in his back when he turns to approach the tree.)<p>

* * *

><p>he takes out his wand and<p>

utters something

_under his breath_ that she

doesn't think she would want to hear anyway, since it's probably one of his

stupid illegal spells

and half the tree

is chopped down and the balloons wrap themselves around his

torso like snakes.

* * *

><p>"Can't you let anything stay perfect?"<p>

* * *

><p>but he doesn't hear her since he's starting to move up<p>

in the sky

and he's slowly drifting towards the painfully

perfection blue

and she feels tears welling up because

it feels like he's leaving her.

and her voice is catching in her throat.

* * *

><p>"Come on, Lils, you know you want to."<p>

* * *

><p>"I don't know how," she says hoarsely, looking up and pretending that there are just stars dazzling beneath her eyelids, rather than oceans.<p>

And suddenly the other balloons have been chopped off and they're going

around her body

squeezing and twisting

and to her utmost DISBELIEF

she feels herself rising up towards him

covered in thousands of brilliant

multicoloured balloons.

"What have you done," she squeaks, because she's afraid of heights and for

MERLIN'S SAKE

she's floating in the air wrapped in balloons

and the ground is disappearing a bit too

quickly for her liking.

* * *

><p>"Come on, Lils."<p>

* * *

><p>and she grits her teeth in dread, but then<p>

his hand reaches out and he's practically upside down in the

sky

so she can't help but wearily laugh

chuckle

grin

giggle

and grab his palm, floating on her stomach, gasping with exhilaration and stark raving mad fear.

* * *

><p>and their damn little dingy apartment<p>

complex is fading away, and is that London?

and she feels like she should be a bit more WORRIED and

nervous about muggles

but then she realizes he's

disillusioned them, protected her

and feels him pulling her up to him, wrapping her in his arms.

* * *

><p>"What are you - "<p>

but he makes the

* * *

><p>'shh' motion with his hand.<p>

and his other hand wraps around her waist, sneaking

past the balloons

and he grabs her arm, and they start to twirl.

* * *

><p>"What are we doing?"<p>

* * *

><p>"We're waltzing beside the clouds, sweetheart."<p>

* * *

><p>and so they<p>

are DANCING

like no mortals ever should,

two hundred feet in the air

above London.

* * *

><p>and they've swivelled past the clock tower<p>

and Lily has something a bit like LOVE bubbling in her stomach,

and she's covered in brilliant balloons

and so is he, his touseled hair and boyish grin

and they're DANCING.

* * *

><p>she's not wearing a dress. she's in<p>

overalls and plaid, from painting

their dining

room, and he's

wearing his work clothes

ministry official boring.

but it's the most

romantic thing in the world on that day. because they're doing a two-step in the sky, wearing nothing but

plain ordinary reality

cloaked around their shoulders.

* * *

><p>and they're brilliant, aren't they?<p>

* * *

><p>but, she's crying now.<p>

* * *

><p>she loves him too much. and she can't lose him.<p>

* * *

><p>but they just keep waltzing around the fucking clouds.<p>

* * *

><p>"I can't let you fight, James," she says, sobbing into him, "Please don't go."<p>

* * *

><p>and he's kissing her hair, and eyeing up the sunset behind her, and she's starting to cry, really<p>

letting it all go

letting the planets stop revolving around her tiny little universe.

* * *

><p>"It's a war, Lils."<p>

"It's not a fucking war!" suddenly she

screams it out

but he doesn't drop her

just pulls her closer away from the clouds,

her fists pounding

her eyes making watery

indents in his nice white shirt.

* * *

><p>"You are mine! I don't want you to leave!"<p>

"I won't be gone for long."

* * *

><p>and they've stopped dancing<p>

and he's cradling her, and the balloon juice is running out

so they're starting to sink back down

to earth.

* * *

><p>and the tears are running down her face, and finally, FINALLY<p>

she lets herself clutch to him, and the balloons around her body are deflating, and then suddenly

her feet touch the ground.

but she doesn't let go.

* * *

><p>"Shhh, it's okay."<p>

* * *

><p>She looks up at him, glowering, and he smirks down at her, making her want to weep and pull out her hair.<p>

* * *

><p>"I want to dance with you. Here."<p>

* * *

><p>"Here?" - this time his voice is surprised, he's the nervous<p>

hesitant one

their disillusionment charm is

wearing off, and they're getting weird looks from

people wandering off

of Diagon Alley, two young adults

clutching to each other, deflated balloons

hanging off themselves.

* * *

><p>it's no longer beautiful, you see. but he obeys.<p>

* * *

><p>and the balloons make it ugly and TOO REAL and painful, and she hates it.<p>

his touch BURNS.

she hides her face in his shirt and starts crying. really crying, in the way that she told herself she wouldn't.

* * *

><p>she feels his body wrap around her and her feet match his perfectly.<p>

there's no music, but that doesn't make it romantic.

* * *

><p>and they are waltzing, no longer two hundred feet up in the sky, but down on the ground. in the gutter, covered in deflated balloons and dreams.<p>

she is crying, and he is clenching his jaw, and it's a sight to break your heart.

they're turning, and tumbling, and he clutches her to him

and she's weeping

and when it's time for her to spin under his arm

she can't do it.

she just holds onto him.

* * *

><p>and the balloon tree in the<p>

front yard of

Mundungus' magical apartment complex

is barren.

and there are no more balloons.

just gray leaves.

* * *

><p>he knows it's the beginning of the end.<p>

the start of reality

and truth, and barren pain.

and he can't cry. he can't let her see him weep, can't let her

know that he has planets under his eyelids too.

* * *

><p>so he whispers in her hair<p>

in HER hair, in LILY's hair, the one girl who he

loves more than the moon and the sun and the planets, who he would

kill for and will kill for, the one girl

who agonizes him and breaks his heart over

and over again because he knows that she's

mean because she's so scared

that she can barely wake up to see him.

and he hates that he puts her through the heartache, but he has to.

* * *

><p>"I love you."<p>

* * *

><p>There are no fireworks.<p>

no lantern festivals or

loud music or haunting eyes.

* * *

><p>just two scared barely-there-adults,<p>

crying to one another in their own way,

wrapped in deflated balloons outside

Mundungus' magical apartment complex.

* * *

><p>"And I'll never stop loving you. I swear."<p> 


End file.
